Reduce employee theft in warehouses

Internet shopping giant Amazon hit the headlines recently after resorting to putting up flat screen TV’s in their warehouses which showed stories of alleged former employees who had been ‘terminated’ or ‘arrested’ for stealing company stock.

While this is an extreme method of deterring employees from stealing from you, it is understandable that Amazon aimed to put protections in place considering how much of their stock has a resale value.

However, there are other ways to show your employees that you mean business that have less of a chance of damaging company morale and creating a public relations storm.

Mirrors & cameras
First of all, mirrors can be installed in strategic areas of your warehouse that highlight any hard-to-see areas where employees may be able to conceal items away from your cameras or the sight of other employees. Your employees are less likely to try and commit opportunistic crime if their actions are highly visible through a combination of mirrors and cameras.

Create secure areas
For particularly high value items it is important to put systems in place so that employees are unable to easily gain access to them. Security does not end simply with perimeter protection and you need to make sure that items of high value are given full protection. This could be achieved by enforcing a two-person rule where no-one is ever allowed to access specific items by themselves, or by securing a room or cage with a key pad or finger print biometric access control system.

Limit the number of keys
While it’s important to lock up your building at night, keys are not as secure as they might first appear. Physical keys are easily copied which means that if a key is lost or falls into the wrong hands then it could put your entire warehouse and stock at jeopardy. Instead you should limit physical keys only to specific high clearance members of staff and provide key fobs for other staff which can be deactivated if they part ways with your company.

Outside of these three key areas you should also ensure that checks are done on new employees to make sure that they are fit to work for your company and don’t have shady details in their past. You may not need to enforce a DBS check even just calling previous employers can help.

Gateway Automation can provide free, no obligation quotes and feasibility surveys for your premises. To get us to assess your security requirements, please contact us here.

How care homes can benefit from access control equipment

Care homes act as a refuge for our nation’s elderly people, offering them respite, round the clock care and a good quality of life. Unfortunately care homes are also considered an easy target for criminals looking to take advantage of their vulnerability and gain access to valuable equipment, possessions and personal records.

Owners and operators of care homes have a duty to safeguard and protect the wellbeing of their residents. However, with the level of ongoing care that is often needed it can be difficult to rise to the challenge, especially when coupled with staffing issues and overcrowding.

Care homes often have a number of different visitors throughout the day, from care providers and health care workers to social workers, friends and family. In order to protect residents it is important that you are able to personally greet each visitor and verify their identity; however this is not always easy – especially if you are at the other side of a large site when the door bell goes.

Intercom systems can allow you to quickly respond to a visitor requesting access even from a distance, verifying their identity and business either by audio or video for extra assurance of their identity.

Care homes also keep sensitive information on file of residents, information which needs to be protected. They may also have expensive equipment, shopping supplies or valuables kept away for which access needs limiting too. Using biometric devices such as fingerprint readers, swipe cards, key pads or smart cards you can make these areas accessible only to your staff.

Gateway Automation provides a range of products to help businesses and individuals secure their sites. We also provide nationwide servicing and repairs to gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment. To find out more please call us on 01522 682255.